Coyotes experiment with playing top defensemen Keith Yandle alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson

After failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for a second consecutive season and playing an uncharacteristically permissive brand of hockey in 2013-14, the Arizona Coyotes didn't do much to overhaul their blue-line this summer. 

Veteran Derek Morris was cast off and the club re-signed depth defender Chris Summers, but otherwise the Coyotes defense-corps will be composed mostly of the same personnel as last season. 

Though the faces are familiar, the Coyotes' defense corps could have a very different look this upcoming season.

"I don't think you can be afraid of the change because what happens is through the season there's injuries, suspension or situations arise that force you into those positions," associate coach Jim Playfair, who oversees Coyotes defenders, told Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic. 

"So players shouldn't feel like they can't work with certain people when you put them in certain situations. I think you have to create that in training camp where people can move around and can be successful in our structure."

To that end, the Coyotes are trying out Oliver Ekman-Larsson, a left-handed shooter, on the right-side this preseason. They're also pairing him with leading scorer Keith Yandle - one of the best puck-moving defenseman in the game. Perhaps the chemistry Ekman-Larsson and Yandle flashed on the power-play can translate at even-strength.

"They can go against that second or third pairing, which hopefully we can find some creativity offensively against those type of players and take advantage of their ability to move pucks offensively and create offense for us," Playfair explained, discussing the logic behind the move.

Yandle and Ekman-Larsson have rarely been used together at even-strength over the years, and logged only 27 minutes together at five-on-five last season. Dating back to Ekman-Larsson's first season in the league, the two Coyotes blue-liners have shared the ice at five-on-five for just 92 minutes. 

Though the 92 minute sample is minuscule, the Coyotes' star defenders have had tremendous success in those minutes - outscoring the opposition 3-to-1 and controlling 60.4 percent of shot attempts. Surely that level of performance is unsustainable, but an Ekman-Larsson/Yandle pairing has the potential to be dynamic.

If Ekman-Larsson and Yandle do indeed play together this season, then it'll be very interesting to see how the rest of the club's pairings shake out. In particular, who will share the ice with Zbynek Michalek on the club's regular "shutdown unit" in Ekman-Larsson's stead?

"Whoever plays with 'Z' is a heavy, shutdown position," Playfair said. "They've got to be strong. They've got to be really hard to play against."

Would that mean former first-round pick Brandon Gormley, who weighs just 196 pounds, isn't likely to be considered in that spot? He certainly doesn't appear to have the inside track over the 6-foot-2, 209 pound Summers, who skated with Michalek in a recent scrimmage.